In Ultimate Survival on Discovery channel, we see Bear Grylls do amazing stuff, hunting dangerous animals, climbing dangerous mountains and all that fun stuff.

There was another similar show on that channel few years ago, it was called Survivor Man i believe, the idea is to leave a man alone for 7 days, he carries a camera, he has to do the filming and to survive.

That show was pretty boring, maybe because it was so real, all that guy wanted is to eat, maybe some worms, or fish, create a shelter and lay back until the 7 days are over.

Bear Grylls show however is exciting and so i must ask, how real is it? We see Bear climbing dangerous places, and the crew "somehow" follow him.

We see him making a shelter for 1 person, on some tree or in some cave, and the crew "somehow" get through the night.

We see him hunting and eating bugs and drinking his own pee, and the crew "somehow" survive.

And then miraculously, he finds his way out, running behind a train and jumping on it, and the crew "somehow" follow him.

It just doesn't make sense, lets assume that Bear is real survival expert, how can the crew survive? Every single guy in the crew is an expert? There's a production team following him so how can they survive? It seems more like a movie, and not a surviving experience.

I believe your description of Survivor Man is completely inaccurate. He did not just create a shelter and lay back until 7 days were over. I am not familiar with 'Ultimate Survival', maybe the name is different in different regions, but 'Man vs Wild' was faked for TV. He was never in any real danger there are plenty of images on the internet of him hanging out with the crew and enjoying food/shelter while the cameras weren't rolling for the show.
– Colin DSep 16 '13 at 18:15

@ColinD I'm not criticizing "Survivor Man", I loved it more that "Ultimate Survival" because it seemed real, i'm just saying it's not as exciting but that doesn't make it bad, and I believe what you just said about Bear Grylls, it makes sense.
– LynobSep 16 '13 at 18:51

3

Nothing concrete, but I don't believe Bear Grylis' show Man v. Wild was actually supposed to be "real". It is presented in a real setting to demonstrate what Bear is talking about and doing to make it easier for the viewer to understand (as well as a little more exciting). Survivor Man, on the other hand IS supposed to be out there on his own, surviving on his own. He does, however, have the means by which to recall someone if he gets seriously in trouble. I don't know how long it takes to retrieve him, but he does have a fail safe.
– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2Sep 16 '13 at 21:02

@KeyBrdBasher The reality tag is used for the movie Reality. If you really see the need for such a tag (which would be rather sad), you could name it reality-tv.
– Napoleon Wilson♦Sep 17 '13 at 8:56

9 Answers
9

Man Vs Wild isn't real. If you watch the DVD extras, Bear introduces us to his team. There's a rope expert, a survival food expert, a medical guy etc. The point of the show is to show us how to survive in those situations. And at the beginning of each show there's a disclaimer stating that he is accompanied by a team of experts. He builds his shelters to teach us how to do it, but he doesn't have to stay in them. Once he's taught the viewer how it's done, his job is done. He can go check into a hotel and I don't see anything wrong with that. The show is educational, not a case of "Look what I can do!"

why is he building shelters and drinkig his own pee if he can go and check in? equally he could tell the viewer about it while siiting in a comfy armchair by the fireplace! I can go outside now, build a shelter and go back home to sleep in my own bed but what's the point as long as I do not proove anything?? ... nevertheless I felt comfy (wile sitting at my warm home) watching him jumping into that icy stream or hiding inside stinking camel's corpse...
– user6863Nov 22 '13 at 21:59

None Bear Grylls shows are "real" in the sense that they depict actual events. They are staged documentaries which demonstrate Grylls performing tasks which:

Never fail

Allow him to find and obtain all of the necessary components for his bushcraft demonstrations

Don't show Grylls being injured or becoming serious ill from being in a remote location

Use editing and time lapse photography to cover up any mistakes or errors that Grylls makes.

This can be ascertained by the fact that his cameraman is ALWAYS in the correct position to record Grylls activities and those activities are never out of focus or out of frame. It can also e seen as Grylls never has to stop what he is doing and start over again completely from scratch as a person might have to do in a true survival situation.

Grylls' show is scripted reality television. It's outcomes are pre-planned and when/if the outcomes which filmed do not meet the specified results they are excised by editing and replaced with scenes which match the outcomes that are desired.

While some of the bush-craft is legit, a good deal of it isn't. One particularly egregious example I remember is when he recommends following a river that goes underground as a way to get to the other side of a mountain range (possibly Season 4 Episode 9). If you are in an unknown area NEVER follow a river underground. That demonstrates points 1, 2, and 3 that you made, and is horrible advice/bush-craft.
– ErikOct 19 '15 at 17:49

Grylls is fake. He has a crew with him at all times. Nothing is done without careful preparation. This is documented in the Wiki page, where one crew member admitted the show was fake:

In 2006, a Born Survivor crew member admitted that some scenes in episodes were misleading, indicating to viewers that Grylls was stranded in the wild alone when he was not.[16] The issue of scenes being manipulated was also raised by Mark Weinert, a U.S. survival consultant. One example he gave was of a raft allegedly being put together by team members before being taken apart so Grylls could be filmed building it.

Survivorman is real. He's the only one there. He runs the cameras. He is being monitored by a crew for safety reasons, but he is alone in his environment.

Except for footage of him arriving at his new setting, and being retrieved at the end of the week, the content of each episode is taped entirely by Stroud himself using several DV cameras that he must carry with him everywhere that he goes (he later switched to a number of HDV cameras). The burden of having to carry, place, and retrieve the camera equipment for each shot adds to the challenge and difficulty of each survival situation, and in several episodes Stroud chooses to leave a camera behind, videotaping him as he departs the area (the camera is retrieved later), and in one episode taking place in the Amazon, Stroud is forced to flee his camp and abandon all but two of his cameras due to fear of a stalking jaguar.

I wouldn't suggest you try either, without a lot of preparation. Gryll's show is pre-planned, but it's not completely without risk.

I see people accusing the guy saying that he sleeps in a hotel while filming and is faking it all and stuff; but what I really want to know is that if he fakes those things why the hell does he eat those things (I don't know if drinking his piss or liquid of some animal's was faked but he does eat a lot of raw things) he could just be eating a dead zebra carcass shaped cake. Fake or not his show is quite impressive and he is a good host (I remember when he got stung by a bee, his head looked like a potato).

Also in all these "survivor shows" (even in survivor man) all these people lack one thing that differentiates them from a man actually stranded in the wilderness, and that is adrenaline. What people can do under pressure can be unbelievable, and these people cannot just go into the wild and have that adrenaline rush. Deep down all of these people know that they are going to be rescued and I'm fine with it. The shit that Bear Grylls pulls, such as nearly pooping to death - thank God he has a crew to look after him.

As for the REAL survivors out there: you guys are an inspiration to all and I wish I never have to be in any of your places.

Man Vs Wild, is a ridiculous concept aimed at the very young who only seek entertainment as opposed to valuable information.... who in the world has all those experts available when lost in the woods? MvW shows you how to survive on a full tummy and a fully hydrated body and plenty of sleep, helping with good decision making, as opposed to always being hungry and building a fire, shelter, trapping food. These two shows are complete opposites. There should be no comparison. BTW the amount of risk Bear takes is counter intuitive as a "survival" show.

It is not fully real;
It is a TV show, so obviously it is not 100% real, but Bear Grylls knows how to survive in a real life situation. And Bear has failed in his survival techniques, for example, when he is in Ecuador, he makes a Bamboo ladder, but it breaks as he is placing it over a river, which costed him time and he didn't get a shelter that night as he didn't cross the river to reach the cave on the other side. Also, it is obvious that Bear is definitely climbing fro real, and if you watch the behind the scenes episodes, the camera crew get harnessed and roped up for maximum safety, while Bear does it for real. Furthermore, Bear does often go hungry and becomes dehydrated, and he does not eat food with the camera crew.
As I said before, it is a TV show, so you can't expect it to be 100% real, and Bear job is to DEMONSRATE survival techniques, not actually survive.

Man vs wild show addressed by Bear Grylls is real in the sense that they depict actual events and one of the most valuable show among those who doesn't know how to survive in the most critical circumstances and it provides an innovative ideas, thoughts, suggestions in order to struggle with hazardous natural disasters. Bear Grylls is the real hero of our entire nation.
He is always trying to give the statements before programming and his show his 100% real and no one can opposed his reality(it's not fake). And at last, Man vs Wild is TV show so we can't expect that it is 100% real.

they are clearly given the statement before program start that this episode describes how to survive in life threatening situation.man vs wild is a demo and shows how to survive.but survivorman is another style surviving program for 7 days a man alone with his camera.we can take good things from these both and no need to argue which is good or bad.i like both programs and no one is bored.an another two programs namely dual survivor and man,woman,wild doing the same things.we can take it like movie because movie is acting completely instead of real.

Thank you for your interest in this question.
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